Telephone answering machines are used by many consumers to collect messages that are received while the consumers are unavailable. But such answering machines have limitations that pose inconveniences. For example, a conventional telephone answering machine generally will not take a message from a caller when the called party is already engaged in a call. The caller must call again even though the called party has an answering machine. Some of the limitations of telephone answering machines have been overcome by network voice mail services typically offered by telecommunications service providers. For example, generally, a network voice mail service will take a message from a caller when the called party is already engaged in a call.
While telephone answering machines and network voice mail services are used by consumers in the home and in small businesses, other telecommunication products have been developed to serve larger businesses, and other institutions such as schools, hospitals, government offices, and the like. These other telecommunication products include telecommunications systems having advanced messaging features. These advanced messaging features typically provide a user with more options than a conventional telephone answering machine or network voice mail service.
In particular, such a telecommunications system may provide a user with several options to respond to receipt of a message. The recipient may reply to the message, forward the message to one or more users of the system, and/or may include another message as an attachment to the reply or forwarded message. In some systems, a recipient may respond to receipt of a message by having the system call the originator's number so the recipient may speak directly to the originator. Some telecommunications systems accept facsimile (fax) messages and allow a recipient to direct a fax message to a printer for printing or computer for display.
As noted, these telecommunications systems with advanced messaging features are used in larger institutions where such messaging features allow the users in these larger institutions to communicate with each other in more ways than simply by leaving messages for each other. Nevertheless, such telecommunications systems with advanced messaging features have their drawbacks as well. A principal drawback of such telecommunications systems is that they are limited in scope to the institutions in which they serve. Persons outside the institution having the telecommunications system cannot take advantage of the advanced messaging features.
For example, a business having a telecommunications system with advanced messaging features has provided its employees with choices in communicating with each other. But an employee of the business who receives a message from outside the business (such as from a customer) cannot make use of the choices in responding to the message from the outside. The person on the outside who left the message for the employee is not included in the telecommunications system with the advanced messaging features that is deployed in the business.
Considering the three types of products discussed (telephone answering machines, network voice mail services, and telecommunications systems having advanced features), there are needs of users left unsatisfied by these products. For subscribers to network voice mail services, and especially for users of telephone answering machines, there is a need for an apparatus, system, or method that will provide the functionality of the telephone answering machines and the network voice mail services as well as provide the advanced messaging features of the telecommunications systems generally used in larger institutions. But it is not enough to satisfy the needs of users by providing telecommunications systems having advanced features to subscribers of network voice mail services and/or users of telephone answering machines. It is not satisfactory because the advanced messaging features of such systems are available only to persons associated with the institution having deployed the particular telecommunications system. Thus, there is a need for an apparatus, system, and/or method that provides a user with advanced messaging features and that may be used in connection with communications to other users even if the other users are not associated with a common institution. In sum, there is a need for an apparatus, system, and/or method that implements a messaging system across a region for the exchange of communications between and among users of the region.
Multiple obstacles exist to providing users with a region-wide and feature-rich messaging system. The region-wide messaging system may include multiple service providers with each service provider having one or more voice mail platforms, etc. As a result, technical, regulatory, and business constraints may prevent the exchange of messages in the region-wide messaging system between users who reside in different states or areas of the region, and/or who are served by different service providers. For instance, in the United States, some state and/or federal regulations prevent certain categories of service providers from transferring telephone calls, and possibly messages, across state boundaries and/or across LATAs (“Local Access Transport Areas”). Also, even if users are in the same state or LATA, a user may choose to subscribe to messaging service from a service provider different from another user's service provider. Unless service providers have reciprocal business agreements for accepting each others' traffic within the region-wide messaging system, message exchange between the users may not be possible or may be possible only accompanied by a large toll charge. Similar regulatory restrictions and business considerations may apply in other countries and/or in messaging systems that operate across national borders and are included in a region-wide messaging system.
Some of the obstacles posed to a region-wide messaging system by regulatory, technical, and business constraints can best be illustrated by an example. Assume two people (Oscar and Rachel) subscribe to voice mail service provided through a region-wide messaging system. Oscar lives in Louisiana. In Louisiana, BellSouth provides Oscar with local telephone service, and Oscar has chosen AT&T to provide voice mail service through the region-wide messaging system. Oscar wishes to originate or leave a message for Rachel, the message's recipient who lives in Georgia. In Georgia, BellSouth provides Rachel with local telephone service, and Rachel has chosen BellSouth to provide voice mail service. Oscar calls Rachel, who is unavailable, so Rachel's voice mail service plays a pre-recorded message and prompts Oscar for his message. Oscar leaves a message. Rachel eventually retrieves the message, but instead of actually talking with Oscar, Rachel would prefer to dash off a quick reply by using her voice mail service.
To carry out Rachel's desire to reply to Oscar's message, Rachel's voice mail service (BellSouth) must determine whether Oscar has a voice mail service, and if so, how to communicate with Oscar's voice mail service. To determine “how” to communicate, BellSouth needs to have technical information relating to Oscar's voice mail service. But obtaining this technical information may not be enough. BellSouth may need to have business and regulatory information relating to Oscar's voice mail service and relating to Rachel's reply to Oscar's message.
BellSouth needs to make sure that its transport of Rachel's reply to Oscar does not violate any regulations governing transfer of messages among various states and regions. Rachel's reply message will travel across several state and LATA boundaries to get into Oscar's voice mailbox operated by his voice mail service. Some states may prohibit transport of a message across boundaries unless the service provider has been pre-authorized to do so; other states may consider the message unregulated and charge differently than for a regulated message. In sum, there is a need for service providers participating in a region-wide messaging system to be able to account for multiple, varying regulatory restrictions in order to prevent unauthorized message transactions or at least to take some action or provide some information with respect to the unauthorized message transactions.
Finally, if BellSouth determines how to send Rachel's reply to Oscar's voice mail service, and if BellSouth determines the reply is allowed by applicable regulations, then BellSouth still must determine whether Oscar's voice mail service will accept the message from BellSouth. In order to do so, voice mail services may need to adapt their respective systems to accept messages in a different format or pursuant to a different protocol than those usually received. A voice mail service is unlikely to go to that expense and trouble absent reciprocity, as outlined in an appropriate agreement among voice mail services.
In short, before a message may be transferred between or among multiple messaging platforms located in different regions and possibly operated by different companies in a region-wide messaging system, there is a need for the transaction associated with the message to be validated. Such validation requires identification of the location(s) to which the message is being transferred, resolution of whether regulations allow the transfer, and determination of whether and how particular business agreements among the involved service providers affect the transfer.